My real vice is good eating. I smoke on average one cigar or a pipeful of tobacco about once every couple months. I gave up smoking cigarettes about 23 years ago. My guts can't take tobacco or hard liquor anyhow. I enjoy a beer every couple weeks, but I like to eat, and up till about 3 years ago that wasn't such a problem. But 50 years of hard playing are catching up to me. I've broke bones in my feet and hands that have never healed up proper, and I am looking at MANDATORY neck surgery before too long. I asked the doctor when I would have to have it, and he gave me a flat look and said "You will know when it is time". That wasn't too comforting. For most of last year I was taking massive anti-inflammatory doses, and at one point they put me on fentanyl patchs. Those laid me out on a slab so bad I quit after the 2nd one.

I try to manage the pain nowadays using ergonomics, and paying attention to the warning signs. The nsaids are bad ju ju on the stomach and the heart. When things get wonky it is 3 or 4 nights of limited sleep while I sit erect in a chair with my head in a neutral position.

I enjoy a good chew on the trail sometimes. I use Smoky mountain tobaccoless chew, usually in wintergreen packets, though occasionally their tea leaf I think is close to Copenhagen in flavor. Sometimes I can enjoy that flavor, sometimes it turns my stomach.

I tore the inner meniscus in my right knee a couple years ago, bad enough that it hasn't really healed up. I suspect because I haven't treated it properly it hasn't healed right. The doc said it was a moderate tear.

Then there's the osteoarthritis in my hands. Every year it aches a little more. When they get real cold, I tell people it feels like an ice cream headache in my hands. They get stiff in the mornings sometimes.

So with all that I've had to cut back on the physical stuff a bit, and unfortunately my appetite is still healthy. So I have packed on a few more pounds than I would care for. 30 lbs in fact. That is not a good thing to take with you into the bush for a hunt, though it might have a few benefits in a survival situation.

So I am going to work on that. I may get that knee looked at again and see if they can do anything with that. The neck and the feet and hands will just have to find a way to deal with I guess. The arthritis is already starting to mess up my shooting a bit.